Well, while the wife was away and I had a week off, I planned to wash and detail the truck however it rained all week(stupid MS weather). That's okay because it gave me a good opportunity to get an oribital and pads etc... No, its not a PC. Not in my budget for that.

My question is this. I've always polished, waxed, buffed etc by hand. I've always used three different cloths for removing polish and wax. One for each side and one for the hood, roof, rear and front. So, on a big day I might be into it for about 6 MF and terry towels. How often should I change bonnets on the orbitals?

 

As in the bonnet for removal?

 

Yeah. Its just an orbital that I bought at O'Reilly and it has a 9" diameter. I bought several terry and MF bonnets for it and I'm just wondering how often I should change them while I am waxing.

BTW -- Thanks for all of your help and product recs so far RP. I got the truck done today. Hopefully I will put some pics up tomorrow.

 

Glad to help...

The rule of thumb with bonnets is to change them as needed...

The term 'as needed', unfortunately, is a very subjective one in that one person's definition will vary from the next guys'.

I don't know a good way to describe it other than to change it when it starts to look like the bonnet is 'loading' or if it appears that it's caked into the fibers and such.

Many bonnets offer dual-side usage but, yours may not. Check on that before flipping the bonnet inside out and using it that way.

Sorry for the lack of description -- this is just one of those things that is difficult to put into words and, again, is very subjective.

RP

 

Hey RP I have a question that is kinda related to the topic. I have an orbital buffer like the kind from walmart. When I am applying my polish and wax, Do I keep buffing the same area until all product is buffed out or do i just apply until there is a uniform coat and let the polish/wax dry then buff it out?
I am pretty sure that you let wax dry but i'm not sure about polish. Can you offer some insight.

Sorry for what seems like a common sense question but i have not been able to find a no BS answer to this question.

 

Polishing and waxing would be two different application techniques...

Waxing is the simple one. You simply want to apply a thin, even layer to the entire area of the paint. Nothing more, nothing less....

Polishing is another beast. Sometimes you may want to 'work' an area more aggressively than another but, by the same token, you're working with a thin coat of clearcoat on the paint. Abrasively polishing an area over and over and over with an aggressive demeanor can burn through the clearcoat and cause some serious problems -- much worse than what you began with.

It's all in the hands of the machine holder -- you really need to be knowlegable about your paint, the machine that you're working with, and the polish that you're using...

Most of the cheaper 'buffers' that I've seen out there aren't capable of generating the RPMs and heat to really eat through clear readily but, I'm sure they're out there... User beware.

RP